I Love That Song! by Mike Ibarra

I Love that Concert! - Gamacon Symphony 2016 and Capcom LIVE!

Hello fellow readers and video game music aficionados alike! It’s time for another I Love That Concert article! This time we will be talking about Gamacon Symphony, a local video game concert, and Capcom LIVE, produced by Shota Nakama and Tommy Tallarico, of Video Games LIVE. While Gamacon has been an on-going convention and concert for years now, November 5th marked the first ever Capcom LIVE concert in Latin America, ever! So, did it live up to the hype? We will see in today’s article.

First of all, the concert was split into two. Opening the night was Gamacon Symphony lead by Antonio Malave, musical director for local musicians of Red Orquestral Rio Nuevo. They played some classics like “Baba Yetu” from Civilization IV, “One Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII and “Snake Eater” from Metal Gear Solid 3. It was nice to hear their renditions of classics like these and really well played too. They also had guest composer Gerard K. Marino playing some of his songs from God of War and a new song of his from the game Militant (Made in Mexico by Xibalba Studios). The orchestra really shined here too, taking the songs (especially the God of War set) like you were playing the game right there and then. I have to give props to Antonio Malave and the orchestra for setting up the night so nicely.

The second half of the concert was all Capcom LIVE. If I would have to describe or maybe compare the concert to another one, it is probably Video Games LIVE. It definitely felt like a VGL concert through and through with the orchestra playing in the background while having a rock band playing the song. And it shows of course, with Tommy Tallarico behind the concept, but Shota Nakama is the leading the band and gives Capcom LIVE its own unique taste.

The concert started with a Monster Hunter song, which was alright. Though I did not recognize it right away but noticed from the video playing in the background that it was Zinorge’s Theme. Then they followed with a Street Fighter set. People got really pumped up for it. They started with the theme for Street Fighter II which was pretty great. After that, they played Guile theme (and yes, even this rendition could go with everything) and finished with the theme for Street Fighter V. Sorry, no “Indestructible” for those Street Fighter IV fans out there.

People were truly excited to see some of their favorites being played stage. Again, the rock and orchestra combo really made the concert quite unique and stand out a lot. And we can also see some of VGL’s influence with songs “Objection” from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, which they played right after the Street Fighter set. Another great piece but the next song really surprised me a lot, Monster Hunter theme (or Proof of a Hero).

I did not expect two Monster Hunter songs to be played but I’m definitely not complaining either. And while there are a lot of people probably do not care about this series in the west, this particular song was really amazing. The lighting effects and visuals in the video also helped a lot for people to get into this song. It was definitely my favorite of the entire concert. I got chills after listening to it, even though I am not a big MonHun fan, it was a treat to listen to. But the concert did not fall through after this song; it definitely delivered some other great tracks as well.

It cannot be a Capcom LIVE concert without some Mega Man. While I would have liked more songs from the series (I mean, there is only like 10 games to choose from; and that is only counting the main series), the arrangement they made for Cut Man’s stage theme was really nice; quite rhythmic even. Heck, even people got up and danced a little.

Right after, we returned to the heavier songs with Devil May Cry 4, which was also pretty cool. Then we returned to more calming songs with another set, this time Okami. This was another set I really like, probably my second favorite and here we also got to see the orchestra do their stuff. The vocals were pretty great too. Thomas, the singer they brought for Capcom LIVE, has a great vocal range. The last song played in the concert was a Resident Evil 6 song called “Let me save you” (Jake’s campaign ending theme). It was a nice song to end the concert with.

(Thanks to David Omar Torres and his channel for the video)

And that was it, albeit the concert may seem a little short but it was definitely worth attending and the price of admission, which was not that bad either. Great concert overall, both parts were excellent and I hope to see Capcom LIVE come again next year or sometime soon, probably with a bigger set too.

If you have the chance to see Capcom LIVE, I totally encourage you to do so! It has great people behind it, which you can trust. And even if you do not recognize all the songs played in it, you’ll still have a blast! I know I did.

Hopefully, I will not be a stranger to everyone again and bring more ILTS articles soon to the VOG Network. But in the meantime, you can register and get points and loot for checking out other articles and shows here. Or if you speak Spanish and want to listen more to what I have to say about geek stuff and such, I invite you to check out GFMCast, which I make along my friends and have lots of fun doing. Hope to see you guys there, if not I will see you here in the VOG Network!

Until next time, keep on livin’!

Mike “deft” Ibarra is a staff writer for the VOG Network. You can follow him over at Twitter at @act_deft

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